Categories
Radiohead Stanley Donwood

Stanley Donwood Art Show in San Francisco

Stanley Donwood is having an art show in San Francisco, CA from September 2 to October 27th at FIFTY24SF Gallery. Here’s the press release:

FIFTY24SF Gallery Presents “Over Normal”
New Works by Stanley Donwood

Fifty24SF Gallery presents “Over Normal”- a solo exhibition by Stanley Donwood and his first ever showing in the United States.

When thinking of iconic imagery in music from the last 20 years, Stanley Donwood’s work with Radiohead invariably comes to mind – and for good reason. Where Radiohead’s music stretched the auditory horizons and painted musical sceneries of mans place in the modern world, Donwood’s imagery and packaging forced us to face the gravity of the music from the minute the album hit our hands; and by creating cryptic, academic and (at times) dystopian layouts, the albums themselves became as striking and relevant as the music they contained.

Although Stanley Donwood generally avoids the grandeur of media and would prefer to be undersold, to speak only in terms of his work with Radiohead would be a disservice. From his exhibitions of intricate etchings at Lazarides Gallery in London, to the vibrant works that made up his show at Iguapop Gallery in Barcelona, Donwood’s gallery work has consistently mixed personal and political emotions with modesty and humor.

For “Over Normal”, the catalyst for the large works featured in the show is in Los Angeles, where Stanley began to notice (with equal parts amazement and distress) that the advertisements bombarding him on the multilane highways were made of seven basic colors, immediately grabbing viewers’ attention in a primal way. More recently, Stanley noticed a parallel between the use of those colors and an influx of spam emails that promised everything from more fruitful sex lives, to cheap foreclosed properties at the expense of someone else’s misery. The word’s that were used in the emails were formatted in the same fundamental way as color in the advertisement’s had been used: to grab unconscious attention and tell a story without the viewer knowing it. Marrying the immediate words used in these emails with the attractive and distressing colors of the advertisements, Stanley has produced a line of seven vibrant, original pieces for this exhibition.

Stanley has also produced a 12 page newspaper to accompany the show, this explains how he came about putting together a neuron firing sound installation in an artificial neural network which is also featured in the show and is entitled ‘The Overnormaliser’.

“Over Normal” will run from September 2nd – October 27th with an opening reception occurring on September 2nd from 7:30PM – 10:00PM.

******************************************************************************************
Relevant Links:
FIFTY24SF Gallery: http://www.fifty24sf.com
Stanley Donwood: http://www.slowlydownward.com/
******************************************************************************************

Here are some examples of the artwork that will be shown:

Categories
Stanley Donwood Thom Yorke

Stanley Donwood on artwork for “Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses”

Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses

Stanley wrote us today about the artwork for “Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses” (or “feelingpulledapartbyhorses” as he and Thom write it). He says there is some vagueness and lack of information about the sleeve for the album, and for good reason:

“its all black ink. no colour. the outer sleeve is lasercut into the design of woodcut lines. the inner sleeve is a design made with spraypaint. when you pull the sleeve out a tiny wonder occurs. it doesnt translate well to digital form. youll need a record player to get the most out of the release.”

We can’t wait to see what the “tiny wonder” is. You can pre-order the 12 inch vinyl and see how cool this will be for yourself by heading to the w.a.s.t.e. shop.